Student Narrative

"I spent my summer with the Government Relations Office of the
National Center for State Courts in Arlington. This group serves as a
liaison to state court associations such as the Conference of Chief
Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators and assists
state courts in advancing their policy interests. Over the course of
the summer, the work that I completed was mainly focused in the area of
child welfare, but the Government Relations team has experts in all
areas ranging from homeland security to transportation to technology
issues to trade agreements, etc. I spent a lot of time outside of the
office, attending policy coalition meetings, hearings in the House and
Senate, as well as held in the D.C. area on child welfare. I attended
most of these events as the sole representative from the organization.
I also accompanied various staff members to private meetings with
various federal agencies."

"When I was in the office, I drafted policy positions on behalf of
the associations mentioned above, followed up on surveys sent to state
court staff around the country and wrote executive summaries for the
survey results. While the internship was unpaid, I was treated to a
week in Salt Lake City in July to attend the annual meeting of the
Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court
Administrators."

"This internship was a great experience for me. I was able to
observe the inner workings of Washington and work with some very
powerful individuals in the court system. I was able to discover the
niche in which I hope to focus my career in policy and government -
child welfare. I am also very interested in the legal system and was
introduced to the area of court management. The scope of the work
completed by the National Center for State Courts as a whole is
intriguing. This internship led me to a part time job with the National
Center in Williamsburg. I have been working 10 hours per week in the
Research Division of the organization on an assortment of projects."